The winners of the Special Achievement Award at the Great British Pub Food Awards hailed the hard work of his team.
Eighteen winners were announced including individual chefs, teams and company titles.
Paul Salisbury, managing director of Lovely Pubs who picked up the Special Achievement Award, paid tribute to his team.
"I am very pleased to have won the Special Achievement award, but I think a huge thank you goes to the people who work for me," said Salisbury. "We couldn't have done it without them."
When asked how pub food has changed since he entered the business, he said: "Our first business was so basic and now we are doing things that I never thought we would do.
"In the future, pub food can only get better and better. There needs to be more emphasis on quality, less emphasis on value and I think we need better trained staff. People will spend money where there is quality."